At a meeting in Mostar last Thursday, SNSD head and Republika Srpska president Milorad Dodik met with Dragan Covic, head of the HDZ BiH party, to discuss cooperation on government formation. The SNSD and HDZ, which are BiH’s largest Serb and Croat parties respectively, agreed to form a coalition in both BiH and entity-level governments. According to Dodik and Covic, the parties now seek a partner from among the Bosniak parties.
The HDZ and SNSD closened ties even before this October’s elections. The SDA is seen as likely to work with them, as the Bosniak party that won most votes.
“The partnership of the HDZ and SNSD has lasted many years, which is now confirmed through our partnership in the formation of the government,” Dodik said. “The HDZ is our only interlocutor among the Croatian people [in Bosnia],” he added.
Covic meanwhile said he had already met the vice-president of the SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic, but that the leaderships of the two parties had yet to meet.
